Aerospace Engineering Sciences Student Launches New Career with NASA Co-op

Erin Reed, a recent graduate in aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, turned a co-op internship experience at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston into a full-time permanent job after graduation. Her work experience began after her sophomore year at CU, when she received an e-mail from an advisor about a fellowship program at NASA. “I really liked it,” she says, “so I applied for the co-op program, in order to stay at NASA.” She has since completed three more work sessions at JSC, for a total of more that one-and-a-half years of experience as an aerospace engineer before graduation.

Each of Erin’s assignments was different. During her first session, she worked in the thermodynamic group as a test engineer. There she operated test systems, recorded data, and presented results to upper management. This work required that she make immediate use of her freshmen and sophomore education. For her second assignment, she worked in training, environment controls and life support systems. She also became certified as a NASA instructor, and taught expedition crew members, safety personnel, and flight controllers about emergency hardware.

For her third work session, Erin worked in a motion controls group for the International Space Station. This stint, which focused on technology and programming for pointing and flying the station, was where she began training to become a back-room flight center controller for the space station’s attitude control systems. Her fourth work session was in advanced mission design, where she was also involved in the Columbia accident investigation.

“NASA demonstrates a lot of confidence in their co-op employees,” Erin says, “I was put right in the middle of a project and in charge of a contract team … they threw you right in like you were a full-time engineer. They were definitely around to answer questions, but they had a lot of confidence in our abilities.”

During the summer of 2005, JSC had more that 100 co-op employees, from all over the country. Erin says, “the co-op network is really tight, and they make it easy to network and meet people. NASA does things like recruiting homeowners in the Houston area to rent-out rooms to co-ops, and maintaining a list of apartments that do short-term leases.” This helps students who live outside the Houston area and may have difficulty securing quality, short-term accommodations. What would Erin tell students who are contemplating a co-op program? “You have to be persistent when you pursue a job, and professional and flexible while you’re on the job. Through the co-op, I was able to make enough money to pay for about one-third of my school expenses. Most importantly, don’t let the delay in graduation deter you from pursuing co-op employment. It’s worth the delay, and the work experience is invaluable. Besides, it’s nice to get a break from school every once in a while.”

“The most important thing I’ve learned,“ she says, “is that I’d rather not be a design engineer, but instead work in operations management using the software that’s designed by others and implementing it.”